Chapter Text
Day 0
One second. That’s all it takes… Wei Wuxian has never been so grateful for his speed as now; because it only takes him an instant to realize Wen Ning’s movements and to put himself between his fierce general and Jin Zixuan. The pain hits instantaneously.
Wei Wuxian looks down and sees how he has half Wen Ning’s arm inside his chest, he used to say after the fight with Jiang Cheng, that he could have half intestines hanging, put them back inside and keep fighting (since that was kind of what happened anyway), but apparently, that does not apply to chest wounds. ‘Wen Qing is going to be so mad ’ a tiny part of him thinks, the rest of him is still in shock, the kind of shock one gets when they know they are about to die.
His unstable rage towards Jin Zixun and the rest of the mob who ambushed him vanishes, and with it, Wen Ning regains his consciousness and looks horrified at what he has done.
“M-master…” if he could, he would be even paler than he is, nevertheless, his pain is evident. Wei Wuxian coughs a bunch of blood as the corpse removes his arm.
“Silly Wen Ning… what are you doing… you can’t kill peacock… Shijie would be sad” he manages to say before falling to his knees, his ghost general catches him midway and cradles him.
Jin Zixuan looks stricken, also in shock as his mind tries to make sense of what exactly is happening before him.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I-I-I di-didn’t wa-want to!” even for a fierce corpse, his voice is so full of pain, regret, and raw despair that even both Jin cousins can’t help to wince “Master! Master Wei don’t go! A-Yuan needs you! Sister needs you! We all need you!” despite his pleas, Wei Ying can’t really hear him, he kind of knows what his friend is saying anyway, even so, he doesn’t have much energy to care about it, he is just grateful that he could protect his Shijie’s happiness from himself.
“Wen Ning…” he heaves as he coughs more blood “Not… your fault…” the world turns dark around him, but he refuses to leave just yet, he needs to tell him “Run… don’t let them kill… save them… Wen Ning…” there’s a lot he would like to say to him, please tell Jiang Cheng sorry, please apologize to Shijie for ruining her and Jin Rulan’s day, please tell A-Yuan to stop munching on unknown things, please tell Wen Qing to not be angry, please tell uncle to keep brewing wine… but he feels he has not much time left, so he hurries to tell his general his last command “Protect them…Wen Ning… save and protect your… our family” he figures he can get away with such sentimentalisms this time
“MASTER!!!!!!” the ghost general roars with grief
“Tell Shijie… Jiang Cheng… sorry… broke promise… I’m sorry” his voice is but a whisper, but Jin Zixuan is able to hear him just barely since he also falls to his knees “Run… Wen Ning” he coughs a bunch of blood once more. Before the darkness envelops him, he turns to the box in the ground, his nephew’s present, he tries so hard to move his hand to it, but he doesn’t have the strength anymore “Jin Ling…” his eyes closes one last time
‘Sorry Lan Zhan… I won’t be able to treat you lunch again’ Wei Wuxian thinks for the last time before he dies.
The Yiling Patriarch is dead
Day 1
The unbelievable news of the Yiling Patriarch’s death moves all around the cultivational world with scary speed, the only thing more unbelievable about it, are the circumstances surrounding his death. Rumors spread like fire.
“Apparently he died protecting young master Jin from his own ghost general”
“That doesn’t make sense! Why would he protect him? Didn’t he give the order to kill him to the ghost general?”
“Maybe he regretted it?”
“Maybe he lost control!”
“Who cares?! The Patriarch is dead!”
“Good riddance!”
In the nearby forests, the fierce corpse trembles with grief and rage, for a moment he would love to kill all those who are bad-mouthing about his master, but he can’t do that, because he promised Master he would keep his family safe, and he promised Wen Qing he wouldn’t get into trouble. If he could sigh or cry, he would, but since he is dead, he can’t, so he can only look down and return to Burial Mounds in silence.
~~~~~~
Right after Wei Wuxian’s death, Jin Zixuan glared at Wen Ning before screaming at him.
“What the fuck are you still here for?!” the fierce corpse looks at him confused, his face is full of despair and pain “Didn’t your master told you to run?! Get away from here!”
Wen Ning regains his composure, but before Jin Zixuan can stop him, he takes his master’s body and flees. Jin Zixuan curses, he wanted Wei Wuxian’s remains so that Jiang Yanli could mourn him properly… no matter, he would go to the Burial Mounds later. The scene repeats over and over in his head, torturing him; ‘ Yanli is going to be devastated’ he thinks with grief and a bit of shock, then he looks at the box Wei Ying was looking at moments before his death, he mentioned his son so maybe it was something for him? He moves to get it.
“What are you doing cousin Jin Zixuan?! Don’t touch it! It could be dangerous!” Jin Zixun interrupts him and he snaps.
“SHUT UP!!” Jin Zixun pales, he has never seen his cousin this angry “DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! THAT WAS MY WIFE’S YOUNGER BROTHER! MY GUEST!! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING AMBUSHING HIM HERE?!” the young master is furious, the rest of the mob that’s still alive takes a step backward
“Bu-but he was the Yiling Patriarch! He cursed me!” Jin Zixun tries to defend himself.
“So?! Has the curse lifted?!” He opens his tunic, but the one hundred holes remain on his skin “YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT!”
“B-but cousin! He… had to… who else… he must have done something! So it wouldn’t vanish even after death! Cousin Yao said that he-!”
“SHUT UP!” Jin Zixuan trembles but forces himself to remain calm, he moves to retrieve the box, inside, there’s a small clarity bell, it looks crafted and has quite a few cracks from the incident, his face darkens, this was Wei Wuxian’s present for his son.
Jin Zixuan decides to take the matter into his own hands and with several biding ropes, he takes his cousin and the rest of the mob back to Lanling, with a broken present and a heavy heart.
~~~
His heart ends up breaking too, the moment he has to take Jiang Cheng and Yanli aside to tell them what happened. Jin Zixuan gave them the little present Wei Wuxian intended to give to Jin Ling and gives them his final message.
“He said that he was sorry for breaking his promise, sorry”
With a last heartbreaking scream, Jiang Yanli faints from the grief
Day 2
Jiang Cheng, Jin Zixuan, and Lan Wangji go to Burial Mounds, two of them with broken hearts, to search for Wei Wuxian’s body. They find the Wens mourning him inside the Demon-Slaughtering Cave, with red eyes, Wen Qing agrees to talk to them.
“You need to hide” Jiang Cheng says through his teeth, he hates the clan for taking his family away, he detests them with every part of his being… but he will respect his older brother’s desire of protecting them, even if it kills him “Without him, the sects will come to destroy and take what they can, that means you too” Wen Qing nods
“I understand” she looks down, her voice trembling, as she is trying her best to be strong and not to break “I assume you have come for his body and his things” Jiang Cheng nods, one of the other Wen gives her a basket full of Wei Ying’s belongings “His sword has sealed itself, and the Stygian Tiger Seal is separated” she puts in two pouches, each one containing a part “He was looking how to destroy the damn thing, it takes a bunch of energy and it seems to be a complicated method, see if you can do it… don’t let it fall into the wrong hands” she warns them “There’s also his notes, and inventions, he would rather you have them than…” she sighs, looking on the verge of tears again “I know what everyone says about him… but he saved us, he gave us a home… he is… was a good man” she has to take a moment to compose herself, in which she dries the unshed tears “I have a request” she whispers, Jiang Cheng arches an eyebrow “Take A-Yuan with you… we don’t know where or how we are going to live from now on, his protections here won’t last for long and the resentment energy will be back full force so we can’t stay… A-Yuan doesn’t deserve this, he doesn't deserve a life running and hiding... its not... that's not what he wanted” she looks back and the men follow her gaze, next to the stone where Wen Ning put the corpse of Wei Ying, a toddler cries and whimpers, calling Xian-gege to please come back. The scene is beyond disheartening.
“I’ll take him” Lan Wangji says unexpectedly, surprising the other two, yet Wen Qing nods, holding her tears again. It is the only thing he says during the whole travel to Yunmeng as they take the crying child, Wei Ying’s body, and his belongings back to his family.
~~~~~
The funeral ends up being in Lotus Pier, during the whole process, neither Jiang Yanli nor Jiang Cheng nor Lan Wangji moves from the resting casket.
‘Please Heavens… let him find happiness in a good life’
After the funeral services, and taking the child to Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji enters seclusion, from then on, any GusuLan Sect disciple that walks close to the place will hear every night, without a miss, a solitary guqin playing Inquiry.
Day 1095
Exactly three years after the Yiling Patriarch's death, his soul returns to the world.
That same day, and unbeknownst to everyone, at the exact same time, Jiang Yanli gives birth to her second child: Jin Ying